Luka Doncic Not Pleased With Mavs' Defense Against Warriors Despite Win

Dallas may have picked up a win on Sunday, but their leading star believes they need to be better

Dec 15, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) gestures after scoring against the Golden State Warriors during the fourth quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The Dallas Mavericks beat the Golden State Warriors in an offensive shootout on Sunday night, winning 143-133. Luka Doncic put up a historic triple-double, with 45 points, 13 assists, 11 rebounds, three steals, and two rebounds. Despite the win and his solid defensive effort, he wasn't pleased with his team's defense on Sunday.

When asked in his postgame press conference about what it means that they can find a way to win when their opponent makes 27 threes, the first time a team has ever lost making 27 or more three-pointers, Doncic responded, "It means we've gotta guard better, I think our defense needs to step up. Obviously, our offense, we've got a lot of weapons. But at the end of the day, we gotta rebound the ball, and when we rebound, we're a very dangerous team."

Doncic's individual defensive effort has been better than the national media would give him credit for, as he now sits second in the NBA in steals per game at 2.1 and has the best defensive rating of his career at 109.7. He jokes that he should be First Team All-Defense, but he has certainly improved on that end of the floor.

Dallas has mostly been good on defense this season, posting the 11th-best defensive rating so far. They've had a few games like this where the opponent scores a ton of points, but when they've had PJ Washington in the lineup, their defense has mostly been better, save for Sunday night.

The Warriors and Mavericks combined for 48 made three-pointers in this game, the most ever in an NBA game. Dallas allowed four different Warriors (Andrew Wiggins, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Jonathan Kuminga) to score 20+ points, something they'll need to address the next time these teams play.

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